Chapter 1: The Fracture Line

There are moments in life when you feel the ground beneath you shift. The kind of moments that don't announce themselves with fanfare, but creep in quietly, like an insidious whisper at the back of your mind. I should have noticed it sooner. Maybe if I had, I could have stopped it—prevented myself from unraveling piece by piece.

But the truth is, I've always been falling apart.

"Yukinon, do you want to grab something to eat after this?" Yui's voice reached me through the haze of my thoughts, bright and warm as always.

I looked at her, the kind smile on her face that I had never been able to match. My lips parted, but something inside me faltered. A pause stretched longer than it should have, and I could see the concern flicker in her eyes.

"I'm fine," I said finally, voice steady, detached. "I have things to do."

Hikigaya, sitting across the table with his usual deadpan expression, studied me with those sharp, cynical eyes of his. I hated that he could see through me. I hated that I was afraid of what he might find if he looked too closely.

"Yukinon, you haven't been yourself lately," Yui pressed gently, and something inside me tensed at the words.

Haven't been myself.

If only she knew how true that was.

I felt it again—that strange disconnect between my thoughts and my body, the sensation of being an observer in my own life. Lately, it had been happening more often. The world around me felt distant, muffled, like I was watching through a glass pane I couldn't break through.

I clenched my fists beneath the table. "I'm just tired," I murmured, forcing a polite smile. "Nothing to worry about."

But I was lying, and part of me wondered if they could tell.

It happened for the first time when I was standing in front of the mirror.

I was brushing my hair, the strands falling in a perfect curtain around my face. I should have been comforted by the familiarity of the routine, but something felt... wrong.

I watched my reflection, and then I heard it.

"You don't have to keep pretending, you know."

I froze, my grip on the hairbrush tightening. The voice was soft, almost gentle, but it wasn't mine. And yet... it was inside my head.

My heart pounded. I forced myself to meet my own eyes in the mirror, searching for some sign that I was still me. But the face staring back felt unfamiliar, foreign in a way I couldn't explain.

"You should let me take over for a while," the voice continued. "I can handle things better than you can."

I dropped the brush. It clattered loudly against the tiled floor, snapping me back to reality. My hands were trembling, and I could feel a cold sweat forming on my skin.

This wasn't normal.

I couldn't tell anyone. Not Yui, not Hikigaya. They wouldn't understand. If they knew, they'd look at me the way my mother always had—with disappointment, with expectation, with judgment.

And so, I did what I always did. I buried it.

Author's Note:
I've noticed the amount of new fanfic for Oregairu is slowly declining so I decided it was my time to contribute something to a fandom I've grown to love. This is the first fanfic I've ever written so reviews/feedback is much appreciated. Thanks for reading!